Commentary by: Langley Austin ~ [email protected]

Kingsport, TN(June 22, 2012) — Nate Monteith isn’t exactly known for making friends at Kingsport Speedway as over the last two seasons he’s had a rivalry with almost everyone else who’s visited victory lane on the 3/8 mile track.

However, this season he’s been taking no prisoners and has put an all-out assault on the concrete track in Kingsport, TN. As the season started, he, Daniel Pope and Lee Tissot were expected to battle for wins and the championship, but as the season has played out he’s the only of those three really left in the mix for the championship. Monteith has five wins this season already and after an early season skid and an updated clip from Performancenter Racing Warehouse, he’s back in race winning form every week.

Tissot found himself out of contention early with bad luck plaguing him and eventually leading him to park his own ride. He would return in a car owned by J&J Race Engines of Kingsport, TN and returned to victory lane two weeks ago, but can’t contend for the championship.

Pope was the top contender for the championship after he protested Monteith’s engine, which led to his disqualification. Pope was the points leader by a wide gap, but quickly his fate turned on lap 3 of the first race on a night of twins two weeks ago. His car was riding on top of Monteith’s and Pope’s car had Anthony Anders machine climbed atop him. It was a huge wreck that ruined his chances at a championship, when he was unable to get his car back on track for the next race(last week).

Pope will return this week, but with the strength of Monteith’s program seeming to be at an all-time high, Pope’s chances at regaining the points lead are slim to none. With those two drivers out of the picture, it’s now a race between Monteith, whose leading and Zeke Shell, who is only four points out of the lead despite a string of bad luck for the young driver. Shell seems to be in the catbirds seat however as many expect a long road ahead of Monteith.

That long road will likely be paved with retaliation for incidents that have taken place this season. The veteran driver isn’t very well liked by his peers or the fans and the last few races have even taken a toll on his popularity even more. Two weeks ago, when he was involved in the wreck with Pope, he was accused of hitting Pope’s mom in a fracas after the wreck, but video proved that, that didn’t happen, but many fans are still skeptical. Then last week as Adam Long, another driver, who has recently put himself in the mix for wins weekly dominated the 60-lap race, leading nearly every lap, but as the race came to a conclusion it was Monteith taking the checkered flag.

He did so, by roughing up Long according to Long’s view of the finish and the fans, who reigned down boo’s during Monteith’s interview. Monteith however was all smiles as he collected the trophy and laughed at the sound of the boo’s coming from a huge crowd on hand to see what would happen next at Kingsport. Monteith, much like Dale Earnhardt, Sr. in his day thrives off the good and the bad from the crowd and takes it as a form of respect when he gets booed.

Long on the other hand played up to the crowd in his post race interview, making sure that Monteith heard him and promising to deliver payback. Long, who picked up his first career win at Kingsport Speedway a week earlier, is gaining a huge fan base at the 3/8 mile track, which is closest to his Pounding Mill, VA home. Long hasn’t had a lot of success since jumping behind the wheel of a Late Model, but this season he’s been strong everywhere he goes with a pole at Motor Mile already this season and a win at Kingsport.

While Pope has been a strong rival of Monteith’s over the last two seasons, many feel that he’s too nice or too clean of a driver to actually live up to fans expectations of him in retaliation of Monteith. Long on the other hand is one of those drivers, who isn’t looking to make a name for himself and move up, but rather looking to make himself a name in Late Model Stock Car racing. That might just prove to be dangerous for Monteith, who is in the running for not only the Kingsport Speedway title, but also the Tennessee State and NASCAR Whelen All-American Series National Championship.

However, we know so many drivers get caught up in the moment, say a lot of stuff that they don’t mean and never deliver on their promises to wreck people in retaliation(Frank Deiny vs Philip Morris), but for some reason I have a feeling the Adam Long isn’t going to take anything from Monteith. Long has nothing to lose. He’s the kind of driver, who can hurt Monteith way more than he can help him and could play the pivotal role in the deciding the track championship, even though he’s not in contention for it.

Long has a win, three seconds and a fourth place finish at Kingsport Speedway and has proven that Monteith will have to knock him out of the way for the lead, if he’s leading. Long isn’t likely to back down and that means Kingsport Speedway will continue to be the place to be for the rest of this season.